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The traditional flint & steel type method (which has been used for at least a thousand years, probably far longer) requires you to have a piece of hardened steel and a piece of flint (or similar rock). You then strike the steel against and edge of the rock such that a small sliver of the steel is shaved off. For reasons that involve some fairly exotic physical chemistry this piece will be very hot, and it will actually burn (you get a bit of the same effect when bending a wire back and forth, just not enought to make it burn). Typical tinders for this is charcloth, cattail down, true tinder fungi, etc.
Don't confuse this with so called "artificial flints", which is ferrocerium.
The thermal radiation from the sun at the distance of Earth's orbit contains about one kilowatt of energy per square meter (1 sq. yd) of area. This energy can be concentrated by various means to where it is sufficient to raise the temperature of a suitable tinder above its ignition point. The two principle means for doing this are refraction using lenses and reflection using shiny surfaces.
A properly shaped lens of sufficient size, made of glass, plastic - including flat Fresnel lenses, ice, or even water can be used to concentrate radiation from the sun onto a tinder in such a way as to cause the tinder to ignite. Actually, any clear material that has an index of refraction different from air and that can be shaped to focus the sun's rays can be used as a fire-starting lens.
The important requirements for the lens include the area (which determines the amount of solar radiation captured), and the focal length (which determines the degree of concentration of the captured energy). The optical accuracy of the lens's surfaces also plays an important roll. Any distortion of the surface (both in shape and smoothness) will result in a less focused solar image, which means that the captured energy will be distributed over a bigger area on the tinder and the peak temperature on the tinder will be proportionately lower. A larger capture area (i.e.: bigger lens) can make up for this effect, so, for example, a crude ice lens will have to be larger than an optically perfect glass lens of the same focal length.
Note that only a "positive" lens will work for starting fires. Such a lens will act as a magnifying glass making objects appear larger when seen through the lens. Corrective lenses worn to correct near-sightedness will not work because they spread rather than concentrate the captured energy.
The reason focal length is important is because it determines the size of the solar image and ultimately the amount of solar concentration possible. The shorter the focal length the smaller will be the focused image of the sun, and thus the hotter will be the spot on the tinder. Again, a larger lens area can make up for a longer focal length.
Another consideration is the optical color of the tinder. Because this method depends on heating the tinder with radiation we want the tinder to absorb, rather than reflect, the incident radiation. An optically black body is the most efficient for absorbing radiation while a white body will reflect much or most of it away. Thus a darker tinder (charcloth is excellent) will work much better than a light colored tinder (white paper is very poor for this application). A tinder like Inonotus obliquus (tinder fungus) is generally tan in color and is difficult to ignite until it has been heated long enough to darken in color.
The general method of igniting tinder with a lens is to hold the lens so that its area will capture or intercept the maximum amount of solar radiation. For most lenses this will point the lens directly at the sun. While maintaining that orientation the lens is then moved back and forth near the tinder until an image of the sun is formed on the surface of the tinder. Slight adjustments towards or away from the tinder will then bring the image into the sharpest possible focus. Remember to keep the lens itself positioned directly towards the sun. With an appropriate lens and tinder ignition of a coal should take place within a few seconds. The glowing coal can then be transferred to a tinder bundle and blown into a flame in the usual way.
Other refracting devices I have successfully used include a water filled ZipLock sandwich bag, and a piece of foodwrap film formed into a pocket and filled with water. These two methods require that the water-filled "bag" be manipulated with two hands to concentrate as much sunlight as possible on the smallest spot. Because the "lens" is quite large it can work despite a great deal of distortion. An easier water-filled device can be made from an ordinary household incandescent light bulb. The bottom is carefully broken off and the innards removed. The white powder used to diffuse the light is then cleaned from the inner surface of the glass bulb (it comes out quite easily). The bulb is then filled about halfway with water - thus forming a plano-convex lens. If the sun is reasonably high in the sky (from about 10 am to 2 pm local solar time) this horizontal lens can be used to quickly ignite various tinders.
And, as with the lens, the accuracy of the shape of the surface and the degree of polish will affect the size of the focused image, and again, the shorter the focal length the better. To work best the surface should look mirror-like. But, as with the lens, increased capture area can make up for distortion or lack of polish.
Good candidates for reflectors for this method of fire starting include the reflector from a flashlight or automobile headlight, a "flying saucer" type snow sled, or any other concave shiny object with sufficient capture area and degree of polish.
Two rather interesting and unusual devices include a compound mirror first made by PSG member Glen Monaghan from small pieces of mirror cut or broken from a larger plane mirror arranged so that all of the small mirrors reflected light from the sun to a common target. Glen's working device needed about 35 mirror pieces to get sufficient heating to light his tinder. It is interesting to note that the size of the mirror pieces doesn't much matter.
The other unusual device, which I believe I was the first to make work, uses the concave bottom of an aluminum beverage can to ignite the tinder. Because can bottoms provide a limited capture area the shape and polish need to be quite good. Aluminum cans from different manufacturers will have somewhat different degrees of smoothness and distortions such as embossed markings or stretch marks from the manufacturing process. Many can bottoms will be free of such distortions and make the best reflectors for fire starting.
There are a number of ways to polish the aluminum surface, but the quickest I've found is to rub the surface with 0000 steel wool and then finish with some buffing compound applied to a rag wrapped over your index finger or thumb. Approximately five minutes of polishing with the steel wool and about ten minutes rubbing with the buffing compound should provide sufficient polish. In the field natural polishing compounds can be found. I've had good success with the silicate containing Horsetail Rush or Scouring Rush (Equesitum hyemale).
The can is then held so that the bottom is pointed directly at the sun and a suitable tinder is held at the focus, which will be about 1.5 cm (3/4 inch) above the center of the bottom of the can. A good way to find the focal point is to use a narrow strip of white paper held where the tinder would be placed. The bright focused image of the sun will be easily visible through the paper, and you can then move it slightly towards or away from the can bottom until the image is as small and sharp as possible. If the image formed is no larger than about 2 mm (1/12 inch) the can should be sufficiently polished. If it is much larger (due to distortion or from lack of polish) it will probably not get the tinder hot enough.
An ideal tinder for this method is a rolled up square of charcloth. Rolling it into a tube is helpful in two ways; it stiffens the charcloth so you can position it more easily at the focus, and it blocks less of the incident solar energy. With everything positioned correctly the charcloth should ignite in about two or three seconds in fairly bright sun.
Positioning the can to maximize the amount of captured energy and to minimize distortion of the solar image is easily accomplished with a few tricks I've discovered. First of all, when the can is pointing directly at the sun its shadow will be a perfect circle. Any tipping of the can will result in the can's shadow becoming elliptical. As the can approaches the correct position a bright circular arc of reflected sunlight resembling a halo (from the sides of the can) will be seen near the can's shadow. As the can is brought into correct alignment the bright halo will decrease in size and approach the can's shadow. Just as the can reaches the exact position the halo will disappear. This is a very sensitive alignment indicator and is easy to learn.
If I can help with more details about any of the above please contact me at usscod@en.com John Fakan (PSG)
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The Fire-piston, unlike friction fire methods such as the bow drill, hand drill, fire saws etc., works by compression. Tinder inside a cylinder is ignited by compressing the air inside it. In the 1800's, the English found the Fire-piston widely used by natives in certain parts of SE Asia: Borneo, New Guinea, Burma, Philippines. How long it has been used there before that is uncertain.
It's been three years now and I've made over 100 fire pistons out of various materials: wood, bamboo, water buffalo horn and Plexiglas. Not all species of wood is suitable due to leakage through the pores of the less dense woods. I have successfully made working Fire-pistons from Ebony, Lignum Vitae, Hop Hornbeam heartwood, some Hickory. Osage works great initially but will eventually blow out. I've tried Maple, Oak, Holly, Walnut, Purple Heart without success. My favorite material is Water Buffalo horn. It is tough, authentic, has some natural oil in it, the hole burnishes well and gets better with use. The Plexiglas one is really cool to see in the dark. An orange flame is produced as the plunger hits bottom.
If you want to try making a fire-piston, I would recommend wood. Here are some dimensions that will work well: 3/8 inch dia. by 4" deep for the cylinder hole. The hole must be perfect and true, no score marks on the wall, no out of round. The plunger (piston) minus the gasket, should slide freely in and out of the cylinder. The tip of the plunger has a small reservoir for the tinder. The gasket is wound near the tip of the plunger and is about 3/8 inch wide, if fitted properly, will give a popping sound when pulling it out of the cylinder. The gasket could be made from any natural cordage (cotton, dogbane, linen etc.) to wind around the groove of the plunger to provide a tight seal against the cylinder. The gasket is lubricated with grease before use to give a better seal and decrease friction. The best tinder for the Fire-piston is Inonotus Obliquus - true tinder fungus that infects yellow and white birches. In the Philippines, fine hairs from the inner bark of fishtail palms is scraped and collected for tinder. If neither is available to you, use char cotton cloth.
It is not easy by any means to make a working fire-piston set. Everything has to be perfect, the material, the bore, the gasket, the tinder. If one of them is not right it will not work.
To see images and movies of my Fire-pistons, go to:
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Steve Leung firepiston@juno.com
Simply connect the two poles of the battery with some fine (00 or 000 supposedly work fine). You should also not expect a single 1.5 V battery to work, but two of them in series should work. Use a thin twist of the steelwool (use wool without soap or detergents added).
The steel wool should be very loosely bunched. If you grab a small bundle of steel wool and tug it loose from the rest it will be as tight as it should be bunched. Drag the very end of the steel wool fibers across the ends of the wires. The ember will begin immediately. [Doublas Varney]
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Artificial flints are made from a metal called cerium (Ce, atomic number 58) together with iron. It has the property that, when scraped with a hard edge, give off longlived, hot sparks. They are available commercially in products such as "Magnesium Firestarters" (together with a magesium block), "Metal Match", etc, but presumably one should be able to buy the plain bar stock somewhere.
When you use the ferro-cerium you have to scrape it with a sharp edge. This can be on your knife, but the back of that same knife might work as well, with less damage to the edge. You can also use chips from rocks, something that is good to know should you ever be in position of not having any hard metal object handy.
Note that with this method you only get a spark, not a flame, and that you therefore need to have a good tinder ready. Anything that is easilly flamable will work, such as shavings from greazewood (dead pine stumps), birch-bark scrapings, etc. All other work has to be as usual: collect the firewood and kindling before you try to light the fire!
If you are using a magnesium fireligther you should now shave off some from the magnesium block, making a small pile on top of something dry. Remember tha the magnesium shavings will ionly burn for a few seconds, so be ready to light something else from that flame.
Hold the ferrocerium bar vertically (or close to vertically) above the tinder, and scrape down, stopping in time so you don't squash the flame with your scraper.
Note that if you have only the ferrocerium stick (as opposed to the type with an magnesium block), you can shave off a pile of shavings from it (work slowly), and then ignite it as usual for a large and hot spark. André Bourbeau says that this will work even in the rain with no tinder.
You need a piece of marcassite or a very very fine grained pyrite (which is the same). I get mine from other archaeologists, as the pyrites you can buy in mineral-shops are beautyfull but useless (their crystals are too big). The size and number of sparks depends on mass and force, but you need a rather smooth striking area on the rock. Any bigger crystals will be torn of at once.
Almost any hard stone (basalt, quarzit etc.) works as striker. I use
large flintflakes to strike the marcassite. I strike with a downward
movement and quite a lot of force, just like I wanted to scrape the
sparks from the (pyrite) rock. Its the same movement you would strike a
large match with. If you have only smaller flakes you can set them in
wooden handles just like a big match. You can find out better how to do
it, if you try striking in the dark, but take care of your fingers. Even
if these sparks are smaller than those from steel/flint, the tinder
catches them more easily. I make a nest on the ground or on my knee and
hold the marcassite with my left hand over the nest, as near as
possible. Then I strike with the flake downwards, trying not to push the
tinder away. Do it several times until one of the sparks creates a red
point on your tinder, stop, wait and be patient, and let the coal grow.
Voila that's it, now start your fire and enjoy your mammoth-steak. By
the way, this method is 80 000 years old.
[Thomas Ruthardt]
Lighting a candle is pretty easy, but the char must be made of fairly heavy material to make this work. Char made of lighter weight material just won't absorb enough melted wax, so that is is why I recommend old blue jean material for char cloth. I recently purchased a pair of petite ladies blue jeans, at a flea local market, for a quarter that will provide all the char I could use for quite some time.
The char should be about two inches square, or a little larger, rolled tightly as possible, and for beginners, wrapped with thread ( several clove hitches) to retain the roll. Hold the char on top of the flint with the end of the roll at the edge of the flint where the spark will be struck, so that the spark will catch on the end of the roll.
When the end of the rolled char begins to glow, place the roll next to, and in contact with the candle, or candle drippings, and blow gently. Wax will begin to melt and flow onto the char. At this point, the char will begin to smoke, continue to blow gently until the smoke thickens, then remove the char from the wax, and blow with a little more force. The melted wax is vaporized by the coal and will burst into flame. Light your candle, or place the burning char on a piece of wax in your wet tinder bundle. The now burning char acts as a wick for the bit of wax, and depending of the size of the piece of wax, will burn for several minutes or more. [John Dearing]
[Cutting the fungi into fine strips] Those strips were gently rubbed and torn between thumbs and index-fingers to stretch the strips considerably. This resulted in a leatherlike appearence. Prepared in this way it doesn't need any chemical treatment to take a spark. If you want chemical treatment and you really are looking for something your neighbours will hate you for, you can pee on them and let it dry, then pee and dry...
Another highly praised recipee is to use the pee of cows, which has to be aged for about 6 weeks or so, soak the tinder strips in it then let it dry, soak again and dry again...
Children's morning pee is said to be very strong too, the effect might be even highered if you happen to find a true virgin to pee on your tinder :-) but don't get caught when making such avences... If you want it the european easy way, make a solution of nitrite salt used for salting meat, you can buy this at your local butcher. Soak the tinder and dry it, then soak it again then dry it again...
I don't know if the ly makes any difference in your (Par) kind of treatment, didn't try that until now, maybe a winter project, hmm, but sorry to tell the naked truth a guy who works with me is professor at an institute for testing materials and he found out that chemical treatment is useless it won't higher the temperature for setting the tinder on fire, maybe it takes the spark a little easier due to a reaction of sulphur/ nitrate or similar. [Thomas Ruthardt]
One of the traditonal non-primitive tinders that are used with flint and steel is often refered to as char. This is cotton fabric that has been charred,
To make char you need:
If it is totally black and somewhat fragile (i.e. tears easilly) you have gotten it right. If it is only brownish you need to fire it some more.
Andy Woodward has looked into what different materials can be cmade into char.